Fertility of some Colonial Soils. 



15 



these latter are expressed in terms of the soil sifted through a 

 1 millimetre sieve, while the determinations of plant food are calcu- 

 lated upon the fine earth, a term which is herein taken to mean that 

 portion of the soil capable of passing through a sieve with meshes 

 half a millimetre in diameter. The percentages of this fine earth in 

 the sample as collected in the field and air-dried are also given below. 



I. MALMESBURY SERIES. 



Serial 

 No. 



Division. 



Farm. 



Fine 

 Earth. 



Water. 



Organic 

 Matter. 



Lime. 



Potash. 



Phos- 

 phoric 

 Oxide. 



1 

 2 



Paarl 



Matjes Kuil 



Groenfontein ... 

 Kuilenberg 



LangeEug 



KnolleVallei ... 



Brief ontein 



Burgers Drift ... 

 Dry vers Vallei... 

 Dang Hoogte ... 

 Elsenburg 



510 

 81-2 

 53-6 

 551 

 653 

 79-6 

 68-7 

 50-6 

 60-3 

 51-8 

 558 

 80-2 

 57-7 

 92-2 



■29 



■67 



113 



172 



111 



1-72 



•32 



■52 



120 



1^48 



•63 



■95 



•63 



•81 



129 

 2-65 

 523 

 641 

 5^22 

 739 

 1-77 

 123 

 407 

 4-87 

 233 

 2^07 

 225 

 4^26 





024 

 012 

 072 

 100 

 034 

 098 

 012 

 022 

 026 

 014 

 010 

 065 

 044 

 008 



•010 

 ■029 

 •045 

 ■073 

 •041 

 •044 

 •013 

 •048 

 •075 

 •039 

 •042 

 •024 

 •024 

 •039 



•017 



•027 



3 

 4 



" 



•061 

 ■055 



5 

 6 





•046 

 •056 



7 





•010 



8 



" 



•019 



9 





•054 



10 

 11 





•055 

 •027 



12 

 13 



Stellenbosch 



•024 

 ■050 



14 



Nooitgedacht ... 



•046 



Nos. 3 and 4 are possibly affected by disintegrated granite, but 

 very little chemical change would be noticed in consequence hereof, 

 for a reason that will be alluded to later. These clay- slate soils, it 

 will be noticed, exhibit, almost uniformly, an all-round poverty in 

 plant food. The percentages in the above fourteen soils average as 

 follows : — 



Lime -039 



Potash -039 



Phosphoric oxide -039 



Commencing near the village of Eobertson, a tongue of the 

 Malmesbury beds runs at first westward for about thirty miles, and 

 afterwards northward, between two sandstone ranges, for a distance 

 of nearly forty miles, forming the Tulbagh valley. As will be more 

 readily understood later on, when we come to deal with the soils of 

 the Table Mountain series, the soils of the northern portion of this 

 valley, being practically encircled by mountains composed of Table 

 Mountain sandstone, are distinctly poor all round ; it would, in fact, 

 be difficult to understand, as we shall afterwards see, whence they 

 could derive any natural fertihty ; the root of the tongue, nearer 

 Worcester, is less dominated by the sandstone, and the calcareous 

 matrix of the En on conglomerate, which prevails there, exercises an 

 undoubtedly advantageous effect upon the soil. The following are 



